Liberals scramble to pick new leader

OTTAWA - Stephane Dion quit as Liberal leader Monday as his party’s MPs ramped up the debate about how to pick a permanent chief without waiting for a leadership convention next spring.

Dion resigned hours before New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc quit the race to succeed him, leaving only Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae in what most Liberals now want to be a much-shortened leadership contest.

But the party is divided about the best way to find a permanent leader before Parliament resumes Jan. 26.

The new leader will have to make several key decisions very quickly, particularly whether to continue with the Liberal-NDP coalition deal that Dion brokered.

Rae has been a vocal supporter of the coalition; Ignatieff is said to be less enthusiastic.

With Dion resigning and LeBlanc quitting the race, there could now be increasing pressure on Rae to fold his tent. But while Rae concedes that it would be best to have a permanent replacement for Dion in place when Parliament returns, he was fighting any moves to short-circuit some sort of vote or consultation with the party’s grassroots.

“We have lots of time. An entire general election . . . is done over a five-week period,” Rae told reporters in Toronto. “You’re telling me we can’t have a two-man contest across Canada in five weeks or three weeks or however long the party wants to take? I just think the principle has to be respected.”

The federal Liberal caucus - 77 MPs and 58 senators - is expected to select an interim leader behind closed doors at a meeting in Ottawa on Wednesday. The caucus will then make a recommendation to the party’s national executive which then picks the interim leader. The executive would almost certainly concur with the caucus choice.

Under the party’s constitution, though, the permanent leader must be chosen at a convention where delegates cast votes for a candidate. That vote cannot be done by mail, phone or over the Internet, according to party rules.

Ignatieff is believed to have the support of more than two-thirds of the Liberal caucus including, as of Monday, LeBlanc.

“(Ignatieff) is the consensus choice of Liberals to lead our party at this moment,” LeBlanc said in Ottawa. “He is also my choice. Michael Ignatieff can bring the Liberal party together in a way that no other candidate could.”

Ignatieff did not speak to reporters Monday, but sent an e-mail message to his supporters.

“Should I succeed in winning the support of the national executive of the party and our caucus as leader, I remain committed to having that leadership confirmed by our party at our upcoming convention in Vancouver,” he wrote. Ignatieff did not address the difficult issue now facing the party’s national executive: How to accurately gauge the wishes of thousands of Liberal party supporters across the country as quickly as possible.

Rae argued that both objectives can be achieved, that the party can be quickly consulted and the leadership issue can be quickly resolved.

“In the 21st century, it ought to be possible to consult with the membership of the party about a subject that’s as fundamental as the leadership,” Rae said. “If somebody tells me it can’t be done, I’m sorry, I just don’t buy it.”

When the caucus meets Wednesday, Rae will find some sympathy for that view.

“I want to be sure that whatever actions we take over the next days and weeks will keep in mind, first and foremost, the longer-term health and renewal of the Liberal party,” said Toronto MP and former leadership candidate Martha Hall Findlay, who has not declared her support for either leadership candidate.

“I have long been a supporter of the one-member one-vote approach; if we can do it constitutionally, we should. Given the circumstances, I also agree with trying to find a way to speed up the leadership selection process, provided only that it still involves in one way or another all party members.”

Rae, Hall Findlay and others point out that if the leadership decision is left to the Liberal caucus, party members in the 231 ridings in the country that did not elect a Liberal would be shut out. Moreover, there are only a handful of Liberal MPs west of Ontario, an area where the party is in desperate need of re-establishing some roots.

“We’re talking about the health of the Liberal party here,” Rae said. “We’ve been whacked in two elections. We’ve got to make a comeback and the way you make a comeback is by talking about issues. There hasn’t been a single public debate between the leadership candidates. So you’re telling me without a single debate, without a single issue having been raised, you’re saying it’s all a foregone conclusion, without a single delegate having been chosen. I know politics a little better than that. People have to stand the test of competition. We’re healthier as a result to do that.”

As for Dion, he said he decided to quit early because of the changed political circumstances brought on by the creation of the Liberal-NDP coalition.

“There is a sense in the party, and certainly in the caucus, that given these new circumstances the new leader needs to be in place before the House resumes. I agree. I recommend this course to my party and caucus,” Dion said in a statement. “So I have decided to step aside as leader of the Liberal party effective as soon as my successor is duly chosen.”

Toronto MP Bryon Wilfert called Dion’s decision “courageous” and said the way Dion was drummed out is “the nature of the business unfortunately.”

Wilfert is a close ally and confidant of Dion’s and one of the few MPs who backed Dion’s leadership bid in 2006.

“Clearly there were a lot of people out there who wanted him to step aside,” Wilfert said in an interview. “He made a decision in the best interests of the party. He made a courageous decision. He’s got a very proud record.”

Wilfert, who supports Ignatieff’s bid for the leadership, also cautioned his caucus colleagues not to “disenfranchise the party members.”

Wilfert said if Ignatieff is acclaimed Wednesday with no competition, all that’s left is for the membership to ratify his leadership at the May convention. However, it appears Rae is going to contest Ignatieff at caucus and “as long as Mr. Rae is in there, it’s imperative the party members have some say.”

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